Do you think inventory is important for an enterprise? Have you considered zero inventory management?

Zero inventory is a special concept of inventory. Zero inventory does not mean that there is no reserve or no reserve. The so-called zero inventory refers to materials (including raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products, etc. ) does not exist in the form of warehousing in one or several business links such as procurement, production, sales and distribution, but is in a turnover state. It does not mean that the storage quantity of one or some items in the warehouse storage form is really zero, but that the inventory is minimized by implementing specific inventory control strategies. Therefore, the connotation of "zero inventory" management is that the quantity of a certain commodity in the form of warehouse storage is "zero", that is, regular inventory is not maintained. It is a special supply mode under the premise of sufficient social reserves of materials.

The purpose of realizing zero inventory management is to reduce the social labor occupation (mainly to reduce the capital occupation) and improve the economic benefits of logistics movement. If zero inventory is only regarded as the decrease or change trend of the quantity of goods stored in the warehouse, and other material factors are ignored, then the above objectives will be difficult to achieve. Due to the unreasonable inventory structure and layout, some enterprises have no inventory even if the inventory quantity tends to zero or equal to zero. However, from the perspective of the whole society, due to the repeated existence of storage facilities, the amount of funds used to set up and maintain warehouses has not decreased. Therefore, from the point of view of rationalization of logistics movement, zero inventory management should include the following two meanings: (1) the number of goods in stock tends to zero or equal to zero; (2) Inventory facilities and equipment quantity and inventory labor cost tend to zero or equal to zero at the same time. Zero inventory in the latter sense is actually a reasonable adjustment of social inventory structure and a manifestation of inventory centralization.

Generation of Zero Inventory Management

Although the traditional warehouse management has brought a series of benefits to enterprises, such as: it can avoid shortage and ensure the supply to customers; Respond to unexpected changes; Ensure the continuity of production and operation process; Shorten the supply cycle; Respond to seasonal demand fluctuation of products; Earn profits through price speculation. However, its shortcomings are also obvious: warehousing takes up a lot of money, increasing interest expenses on inventory, increasing real estate investment in warehousing and so on. What's more, it may cover up the management defects of enterprises, which is not conducive to clarifying responsibilities and improving management level. At the same time, with the development of production and the intensification of competition, it is more and more urgent for enterprises to reduce costs, so "zero inventory" came into being as a new way to reduce costs and improve management level.